The present invention relates to the field of shelters and, more particularly, to a self-draining canopy.
Portable shelters like the “pop-up” or portable canopy 105 shown in illustration 100 of FIG. 1 are owned and used by many people to provide protection from sun and rain during outdoor activities, such as parties and bar-be-ques. The portability of the portable canopy 105 is provided by a light-weight and collapsible support structure 115 with an attached covering 110. When the support structure 115 is locked into place, the edges of the covering 110 are stretched along the sides of the support structure and the center of the covering is lifted upwards to create the canopy 105 shape. Generally, conventional canopy's establish a 45 degree (from horizontal) angle of the covering 110 in that the canopy's structural support (peaking at an apex) form an upwardly sloping 45 degree angle. The result of this arrangement is that once weight is added to the sloped covering portions, the fabric of the covering will generally deform to create a pocket (see depressed area 135 and water pool 140). This pocket traps water during raining events, which becomes standing water that runs downward in a somewhat chaotic manner. Hence, the periphery of the canopy 105 “drips” due to this run-off causing humans seeking shelter under the canopy to get abnormally soaked when entering/exiting the canopy 105. Further, when multiple canopy's are combined to increase area of protection, the edges where these canopies meet are highly subject to water run-off leaking between the joined canopies. This is an unresolved problem that has not been highly recognized in the field nor corrected, which is a recognized (by our inventors) shortcoming overcome by this disclosure.
Many support structures 115 are configured to produce a quadrilateral (e.g., square or rectangular) frame. This results in the covering 110 being formed into the shape of a square or rectangular pyramid (i.e., a square or rectangular base with triangular sides having a common vertex). The corners of the square or rectangular base typically correspond with the vertical supports or legs of the support structure, as shown in illustration 100.
When rain 130 falls on the portable canopy 105, as shown in illustration 120, the natural contour of the covering 110 directs the rain 130 towards the base of the triangular side. Over time, the rain 130 accumulates into a water pool 140 and the weight of the water pool 140 creates a depressed area 135 in the covering 110. Eliminating the water pool 140 requires a person to be able to be under the depressed area 135 and push against the depressed area 135 (i.e., return the depressed area 135 to its original contour). Over time, exposure to the weight of the water pool 140 deforms the contour of the covering 110, reducing the overall life of the canopy 105.
What is needed is a solution that allows the water pool 140 to drain off of the canopy's 105 covering 110. Such a solution would modify the natural contour of the covering 110 to utilize gravity.